Because tofu has quite a neutral it can bring out the most amazing aspects of your dish when it absorbs all of those tasty flavors. This particular meal is packed with spicy chilly, sweet paprika and sour lime flavors. The fresh avocado with spinach will help you to create a perfect balance in this dish. This is one of those tofu recipes that will certainly impress your guests.
Ingredients
As always, our main source of protein for the dish will be our firm tofu. For our salsa we will use sweetcorn kernels with cherry tomatoes, lime juice, chipotle paste and a bit of oil. By the way, you can usually buy the Mexican spice mix with Chipotle paste in your supermarket. If not, you can replace Mexican spice mix with a combination of the following spices: paprika, chilly powder and oregano. In this recipe we also add sweet potato but it is optional, it does add a bit more carbs! This tofu recipe is perfect for vegans or vegetarians.
Make sure your avocado is nice and ripe otherwise you will have a hard time crushing it.
Prep work
Should take you around 15-20 minutes. Make sure to absorb all of the liquid from your tofu, that way it will become a lot crispier once you fry it. Here we cut the tofu in triangles but you can also do it in rectangular pieces.
If your oven usually heats up really quickly, before turning it on you can make the dressing for our sweetcorn salsa and avocado side. The salsa has a nice sweet and sour taste which blends nicely with the Mexican spices.
For the dressing use a small bowl and mix chipotle paste, half of lime juice, and 1 table spoon of olive oil. Half of the dressing is used will be used for out salsa and the other half is used to drizzle over the final dish.
As for the avocado side simply crush the avocado with a fork, add some salt and pepper and a squeeze of lime. If you have any coriander lying around whether it’s fresh or dried, definitely add a bit.
Make sure to cut sweet potato into small pieces, it will be much easier to roast it.
Mexican-Style Tofu with Avocado and Sweetcorn Salsa
In this recipe Tofu helps me bring out the best in Mexican flavor
- 300 g firm tofu
- 1 lime
- 1 avocado
- 2 tbsp Mexican spice mix
- 200 g sweet potatoes (can be a big one or 2 small ones)
- 40 g spinach
- 2 tsp chipotle paste
- 120 g sweetcorn
- 120 g cherry tomatoes
Preheat oven to 180 C fan / 200 C / gas mark 6
Leave the skin on the sweet potatoes and cut them into 1-2cm pieces. Then mix with a bit of olive oil and toss the onto a baking tray into the oven. Bake the sweet potatoes for 20-25 mins until golden brown (turn halfway through cooking).
Peel the avocado, cut it in half and remove the stone. Place it in a bowl and crush it with a fork. Add a pinch of salt and black pepper plus 1/4 of of the juice from the lime. Mix it. Set aside.
Drain the tofu and absorb any residual liquid using a paper towel. Cut your tofu in triangles or rectangular pieces.
In a bowl mix the Mexican spice mix with 2 tbsp olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
Cover the tofu evenly in this spiced oil.
Heat a large frying pan or a wok and on medium heat fry the tofu for 10-15 mins turning occasionally. Once your tofu gets that sexy golden brown look, set it aside.
Slice the sweetcorn kernels from the cob. Or if you want a quicker solution you can use canned corn, just remember to drain it.
Add your sweetcorn kernels to the same pan and fly them for 3-4 mins until golden.
Cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters and roughly chop the spinach leaves.
In a small bowl mix the chipotle paste with remaining lime juice and 1 tbsp oil to form your dressing, reserve half of this dressing. Add the cherry tomatoes and golden sweetcorn to this bowl to make a quick salsa.
Spoon the spinach into two warm plates then top with the sweet potato and the sweetcorn salsa. Arrange the tofu alongside the avocado and drizzle over the remaining chipotle dressing.
I have tried the recipe, it was nice, but not as good as General Tso tofu! Feel like it needs a bit more kick to it, maybe add something a bit more spicy.
Looks good, love this kinda tofu 🙂
Looks yummy! I will try it!